Foodie Friday: Some Wins for the Nativity Fast

I've made a few things this fasting season that I thought turned out rather well, and thought I would share them here.  I normally try to share one recipe per post, but I'm feeling a bit lazy, so you get two today.  The first is a vegan take on white chili and the second is my iteration of winter cobbler.

Vegan White Chili

serves 6

1 package Gardein Teriyaki Chick'n Strips (remove sauce packet and save for another day); could also use cubed tofu or seitan

1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 can shoepeg corn, drained

1 small can diced green chilis

2 cups no-chicken broth (I like Better Than Boullion's No Chicken base)

(optional: 1/3 cup quick cooking barley)

Saute gardein slightly in a saucepan or thaw completely in order to chop into bite size pieces.  Add all ingredients to a sauce pan or slow cooker.  Heat completely in the saucepan for about 20 minutes or put on high in the slow cooker for about 2 hours (longer if using the barley).

Winter Cobbler

serves 4-6

 I forgot to get a picture of the pie before we dug into it.  Bad blogger.  Oops.

1 vegan pie crust*

2 packages Gardein Teriyaki Chick'n Strips, thawed or flash sauteed in a pan, reserve the sauce packets.  If using seitan, have about 1/4-1/3 cup teriyaki sauce on hand (this recipe is good)

Matchstick carrots (a good handful)

Frozen sweet corn (a good handful)

2 potatoes, skinned and cubed

1 bell pepper, diced small

Scallion, sliced, green parts only

1 small apple, sliced very thinly into slices

Olive oil, salt, pepper

Preheat oven to 425.  In a large skillet, add 1-2 T. olive oil, and saute peppers and potatoes with 1/2 tsp. salt and a good sprinkling of black pepper until potatoes are fork tender (about 15 minutes on medium-high).  Cut the Gardein into bite size pieces.  In a glass pie dish, layer the carrots, corn, gardein, potatoes, peppers, apples, and scallions.  Top with teriyaki sauce packets, drizzled evenly over the top.  Do not stir.  Place pie crust over the top and slice vents into the top.  Bake for 25 minutes or until crust is golden brown.  I recommend placing the pie plate on top of a baking sheet in case of a bubble-over.

*I've been in the habit of making this dish with two pie crusts, one on top and one on the bottom, but the bottom one tends to get mushy and doughy because of the sauce, so I think I will omit it in the future.  I've made this with just a top crust in the past and it works just as well.